Hangers for objects such as potted plants are well know in the art, in particular, many of these hangars are configured to hold at least one potted plant suspended from a fixed support such as a screw or bolt installed in a ceiling or wall. In particular, many of these hangers utilize flexible support members such as ropes, wire rope, chains, or similar materials, wherein the flexible support members are coupled to a rigid member, the rigid member configured to support a potted plant thereon. Many times these plant hangers are designed so that a user may hang a plant outside on a balcony or porch where the plant and hanger will be subject to forces of nature such as wind, or in places that are prone to earthquakes, ground movement or vibrations. Even through many of these plant hangers are advertised as being suitable for outdoor use, many are not. Many times, the potted plant is only retained within a mesh of straps or suspended on a platform which is suspended from a plurality of straps, the potted plant is placed within the straps and the straps are arranged to retain the plant. A problem with this type of arrangement is that each of the straps are allowed to move independent of one another, thus if any one strap moves to far, the potted plant may fall from the hanger. Many attempts have been made to address this problem. An example of such a hanger assembly can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,189, there is show a plant hanger having a top plate, a bottom plate and two adjustable belts disposed between the two. The top plate further including a hanging means to suspend the assembly therefrom. A shortcoming of a hanger of this type is that the potted plant is only retained within the hanger by friction forces of the belts on the pot of the plant. This is undesirable for many reasons, specifically, this is undesirable because in the event that the lower plate is jarred or bumped, the potted plant may shift on the lower plate thereby applying a force to the belts holding the potted plant on the lower plate in which the belts may spread due to the applied force and the potted plant may fall from it's suspended position. This is undesirable because the falling plant may injure a person standing nearby.
Another example of a potted plant holder can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,937, where there is shown and described a potted plant holder having a plurality of flexible members, wherein the members may be adjusted to adjust the height between the fixed support and the potted plant. As shown in U.S. '937, the hanger utilizes a plurality of flexible members to retain the potted plant, wherein each of the flexible members are capable of independent movement. Therefore, in the event of a windstorm or an external force, the potted plant may fall from the hanger, potentially causing injury to a nearby bystander.
Shortcomings of current hanger designs is that each of the flexible members that are intended to retain a potted plant are allowed to move independent of each other. By allowing each of the members to move independently there is the possibility that at least one of the members may move enough thereby allowing the potted plant to fall from the hanger assembly. Thus, there is a need for an improved hanger.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of the invention will become apparent to those persons skilled in the art upon reading the details of the methods and systems of the present invention which are more fully described below.